Our Daily Walks

This week, I decided that I need to be more active.  Actually, I made that determination quite a while ago.  This week, I decided that I was actually going to be more active.  So in the evenings after we get home, we put on comfy clothes and walk from our house {in the cul-de-sac) to the stop sign at the end of our street.  It's not far, but it allows me to move around, and Micah to be outdoors.  He loves our walks, and spends a lot of time pointing out the birds and airplanes that fly overhead.  He also has a knack for attracting the attention of our neighbors.  Apparently, his smile is the most adorable thing.  I always knew this, but it's nice to hear that others have noticed.

Here are a few pictures from our walk on Tuesday.  I also took a few pictures that I added to his 18 months update post.

Dancing to his own music!

Taking a break.

Dancing again.

Done!

Beating in the top of Mommy's head.

23 Week Update

At 23 weeks gestation...

... I had a bout with vertigo.  I found out from my mom that she had vertigo when she was pregnant with me, and that salt and ginger helped her to feel better.  I had a hot dog and french fries, and the vertigo went away.  Hopefully, this knowledge will help me to avoid feeling so bad.

... I had some swelling.  No elephant legs, but I noticed that my ankles were a little swollen.  I drank plenty of fluids and tried to keep my feet elevated while sitting at my desk.  The swelling went away as quickly as it appeared.

... Baby girl has been much more active, and I feel her movement more strongly.

... still feeling the urge to nest.

...  still exhausted.  My rest is restless at best.

Our Memorial Day Weekend

Memorial Day weekend was spent with a trip to Myrtle Beach.  We left Atlanta Friday evening after work, and stopped at Mimi's house to spend the night. Saturday morning, we got up and headed to the beach.  But not before Micah got a hair cut.

Micah woke up bright and early.  He then woke me up.  Here he is after he got his morning cup.

Of course, I don't have any more pictures from Saturday.  We loaded up the truck {with Mimi included}, and headed to Myrtle Beach.  We actually stayed at Surfside Beach.  After lunch at McAlister's, spending absolutely too much time at Verizon Wireless trying to get Mimi's cell phone fixed, and buying a few supplies, we checked into our room.  We unloaded the truck, and then met up with Uncle Monkey and Auntie Vita.  Then we had dinner, which wasn't all that great.  Finally a ride up the strip to look at all the motorcycles, and we were done for the evening.

Sunday, we slept in until the late hour of 10:30 am.  Then we slowly got our morning started.  Eventually everyone was dressed and ready to go.  We headed out with no real plan, and our first stop was an indoor flea market.  Of course, my body chose that time to betray me, and I started experiencing some vertigo.  Of course, after weeks of fighting with vertigo, Mimi finally remembered that she had experienced vertigo while she was pregnant with me, and that salt and ginger were the foods that helped her.  I ate a hot dog and some french fries, and soon I was feeling much better. Soon we were leaving the flea market, and Uncle Monkey and Auntie Vita left to head home.

We headed to the outlets.  There, we walked around and did a little shopping.  Mostly, we added to Micah's summer wardrobe.  Once we left there, we had dinner.  We ate way too much seafood, especially crab legs.  Micah enjoyed flirting with our waitress, and entertaining us.  From there, we went to Broadway at the Beach, to walk off all the food we had just eaten.  

Watching some people ride the mechanical bull.

Showing off his new shades.

Finally, we made our way to the beach.  Micah wasn't too sure about the beach at first.  He wouldn't let Mikey put him down at all when we first got there.  Eventually though, he relaxed enough to get down.

He finally let his feet touch the ground.

But stayed on the opposite side of his daddy from the waves.

Once we were all done playing on the beach, we loaded up the truck, and headed to our room for baths all around.  Micah enjoyed a bedtime story.  Of course, he had to read the story himself, and I was not allowed to touch the book at all.

Monday morning, we were up and checked out by 10:00 am.  After breakfast, we hit the road, and left the beach.  We stopped at Mikey's dad's on our way to dropping Mimi off at home.  Mikey and Micah took the four wheeler out for a very, very slow and careful ride.

At the end of the trip, we had a wonderful time and a very tired little boy.

22 Weeks Update

At 22 weeks gestation...

... I feel pretty good most days.  I still have some days when vertigo gets the best of me, but for the most part, I feel great.

... I got to meet one of my friend's baby girl.  She was born the Saturday before Mother's Day.  My baby girl already has a friend, and she's not even here yet.

... My mom surprised me, and came to visit.  Micah and I were pretty excited to see her, and we really didn't want to see her go.

... I get kicked quite often by Baby Girl.  She's obviously growing, and getting stronger every day.  Her kicks are much more powerful.  She kicked me hard enough to bend me over today.

... We've chosen a name.  I'll make a post just for that announcement.

... Micah loves my belly.  He will lift up my shirt, and rub my belly.  He's realizing that some things are changing, but I'm sure that he doesn't realize how much his world is going to change in September.

... I am sleeping horribly.  My sleep is so restless, that I wake up more tired than I was when I went to bed.  And I hate having to get up in the night to use the restroom.  I really wish I could get better rest.  The worst part about it, though, is knowing that it's going to get so much worse before it gets any better.

... I think I'm starting to nest.  I am wanting to make changes around the house. I have visions of the way I want certain rooms to look.  Now if I could just win the lottery so I could actually afford to do everything that I would like.

... weighed in at 121.4 pounds and my belly measured at 33.5 inches around.

Micah @ 18 Months

I'm so in love with this little face.

Micah has grown so much in the past couple months.  He seems like such a big boy now.  At 18 months old, Micah...

...weighs 25 pounds, and is 32.5 inches tall.  He's tall and lean.

... wears 24 month/2T clothes, size 4 diapers, and size 6 wide shoes. He can still fit into some of his 18 months clothes too.

... is running, and jumping, and climbing.  He loves to climb the stairs, and usually sneaks off to try to get up the stairs.  Whenever he hears me coming behind him to get him before he makes it up the stairs, he takes off running.  He also runs when I try to get to him before he gets to his daddy.  He's getting faster every day.  His video on Wednesday shows what a great climber he is.  I really don't know what I'm going to do with him.

... has a mouth full of teeth.  He's only missing his two year old molars now.

... sleeps pretty well.  He has nights when he wakes up during the night, but for the most part, he sleeps through the night and in his own bed.

... is a wonderful eater.  He loves everything.  The only problem that I have is that he wants too much carbs. Sometimes he will cry and whine for plain bread.  We have to work on that.

... loves being outdoors.  Most times, we have to trick him into the house, or just pick him up and bring him inside.  It's never an easy transition.  He's finally accepted that he has to walk on the grass too.

...  is going through a phase where he has to help with everything.  He helps with the laundry, though most times we don't want his help.  It usually involves unfolding the laundry.  He helps with the dishes, and he's ready good about cleaning up his toys.  The problem is that when he's done cleaning his toys, he dumps them out so he can start again.  Not a very productive way to work.

... has awesome fine motor skills.  He can hold a pencil in a pincer grasp, which is the way you are expected to hold the pencil to write.  He stacks blocks well.  The only thing we haven't tried is stringing beads, and I'm almost certain he can do that also.

... is a clown.  He makes funny noises, and sings and dances.  He's always putting on a show.  He loves to laugh, and it shows.

... throws small temper tantrums if he doesn't get his way.  Usually he screams/cries and throws himself onto the floor.  We are working to correct this behavior.

... has a list of words that he says regularly.  He obviously knows a lot more words than he can say.  He can also say a lot more words than he does.  He stubbornly refuses to even attempt to form some words.  His words include hot, bye, hi, sit, dada, mama, up, thank you, clean up, oh oh, huh, see, ready, set, go, three, six, nine, ten, ouch.  He also will correct you sometimes. He corrects me if I say ow instead of ouch.

... is showing signs of being ready to potty train.  He knows to lay down when we pull out a diaper to change him.  He also has taken off his diaper when it was wet.  Luckily I became aware that he was bare bottomed before he wet the floor.  We have a potty.  Now we need training pants and a free weekend, and we're going to start potty training.

Wordless Wednesday {Video - Climber}

21 Weeks

At 21 weeks gestation...

... I realized that I haven't bought anything for baby girl yet.  It's weird because at this point, with Micah I was shopping up a storm.  We had bought the crib by now, and the bedding.  I was in the process of registering.  For Baby Girl, I haven't even bought her one outfit.  I already feel like I did more for Micah.  

... I also realized that I wrote letters to Micah every week.  I have to start letters to my daughter also. 

... I am exhausted.  I either can't sleep or I sleep restlessly.  Good night's rest come few and far between.  I have to figure something out, because I need my rest.

...  I've had a few episodes of vertigo.  Feeling dizzy even when sitting or laying down is a horrible feeling.  Its usually the result of changing positions too quickly.  I've also learned that can't sleep all weekend.  I can't lay around all weekend, and I have to move around more, or I have severe vertigo on Monday morning when it's time for work. 

... I'm moving slowly and having shortness of breath.  I'm sure it's because I'm not in shape at all. I  wasn't in shape at the start of this pregnancy, and I haven't done much to get into shape.  I need to start walking.  I also plan to establish a workout routine after I've had her, and healed up.  

...  we're still debating on what Baby Girl's name is going to be.  We've basically decided what her name will be.  We just have to decide which order the name is going to be in. I like one name for the first name, and Mikey likes the other.  When we decide, I'll let you know, of course. 

... I get kicked all the time now.  She's much more active now.  She's also establishing her schedule.  It looks like she's going to be a night owl like Micah was.

... I've been craving sweets, chocolate in particular, lately.  I try to only eat sweets in moderation, and I happy to say that I haven't felt badly after satisfying a craving. 

... measured at xx inches around, and weighed in at 119 pounds.

Wordless Wednesday {Toothbrushing}

20 Weeks

At 20 weeks gestation...

... we're at the half way point in the pregnancy!

...  I had the flu last week. :(  (Otherwise, I would have posted a 19 week post.)  What a horrible time to catch the flu!  I hated being sick.  I hated that I couldn't be around Micah the way I wanted, and that he didn't understand why he couldn't crawl into bed with his mommy. 

... I had doctor's appointment last week also.  We had our initial anatomy scan.  There were some concerns that were confirmed at this week's scan.  She is growing appropriately, but she has a two vessel umbilical cord, instead of a three vessel cord.  Her umbilical cord has one vein and one artery, and it should have two veins and one artery.  The major concern is that her growth may be affected later in the pregnancy.  Right now, the plan is to monitor her growth closely beginning at 32 weeks.

... I find that summer dresses are the most comfortable.  It's getting really hot in the south, and dresses are cool and comfortable. 

... I had a dizzy spell this weekend.  It was a result of going from laying down, to picking up toys from the floor, to climbing the stairs. 

... Mikey and I are debating names right now.  Choosing a name is hard work.

... my belly measures 32.5 inches.  I managed to forget to weigh myself.

It's A... {Gender Reveal}

We had our anatomy scan last week, and another today.  Baby Giles # 2 was  cooperative. We got to see all the baby's body parts.  The baby looked great.  All the body parts and organs are growing and developing appropriately.  There was a possible problem with the umbilical cord at the initial ultrasound, which is why we had the second ultrasound.  They confirmed that the baby does have a two vessel umbilical cord with one artery and one vein.  The umbilical cord should have three vessels, one vein and two arteries.  According to the doctor that I saw last week and today, there is little cause for concern.  They said that a two vessel cord happens more often than we think.  It is a soft marker for genetic abnormalities, but all testing that I have had so far has come back normal.  We talked about how it could affect the baby.  Basically what they told me is that it could affect the baby's growth later in the pregnancy.  Right now, the plan is to have a biophysical profile weekly starting at 32 weeks gestation.  I'm sure you ready to know whether Baby Giles is a boy or a girl, so...

Baby Giles #2 is a GIRL!

Mikey was right again.  Now to find a name for baby girl.  That's harder than we thought it would be.